Disclaimer: Me no own.
3,2,1
Chapter 3: Youko's Secret Past
A little after Kagome had finished the 8 servings of udon in the dim light of a flashlight that lay on the table for her dinner (she would have ate more, but it was all gone by then; Kurama and Shiori both only split 1 small bowl) (when it comes to udon, Kagome really can eat, don't you agree?), the lights suddenly turned back on.
"Oh, the lights are back!" Shiori said as she blinked her eyes to help them adjust to the brightness.
Shiori suggested they watch some TV together. Kagome remembered what she had seen/heard about a dog-like human and about herself being missing. What if that 'dog-like human' was Inuyasha? It must have been him, otherwise her family would never think that she was missing. They would assume that she was still in the Feudal Era, collecting the shards of the Shikon-No-Tama, the Jewel of Four Souls. She would have to go back to the shrine soon to tell them that she was alright.
Something was wrong. She wanted to know something, but she didn't know what. Suddenly it hit her. How did she get here, from Feudal Era Japan to the present? She didn't fall into the well, because the light from the well was more blueish than that other light, the mysterious one that had somehow transported her back to her time, and plus, she was pretty sure that she went the opposite direction of the well, or at least she thought she did. She couldn't know for sure, she couldn't see a thing before the odd light had somehow taken her back to present-time Japan.
'Kagome, stop it, you're not going to find out anything this way. You're best off going back to the Feudal era...to see if there's another portal or something. What if demons were able to come into your time. Then how would you feel? What if demons really did come through and harmed your friends and family and the only reason why they could get through is because you had somehow opened up a portal or...or...' (she sure is a worrywart) she told herself in her head.
But the only demon she was thinking about right now was (guess who) Inuyasha.
'What if he was still roaming around in my time, and the police catch him? What it he tried to escape and attacked a policeman(woman)? What if they started shooting at him? What if he resisted until they shot him to...to... d...de...death...? What if...what if...' Kagome stopped herself before she started thinking even worse thoughts.
'I have to go home, to find Inuyasha. Whether I like it or not, he's still sort of my responsibility. And my family and friends...I can't leave them believing that I had run away...or that I was attacked by a demon...or...or...'
"Kagome? Kagome?" Shiori wondered what the poor girl was thinking of. "Kagome, are you all right?"
Kagome didn't realize that someone had spoken to her until Kurama nudged her gently and asked what was wrong.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I guess I was so caught up in my thoughts that I wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around me." Kagome apologized, and she meant it. Kurama and Shiori, they had done so much for her, and what had she done for them? Other than take Kurama (or Shuichii, she was still confused on that)'s bed and make him sleep on the floor, stolen their air, eat just about all of their supper, and space out on them just now, nothing. Absolutely nothing that could benefit to them.
She would have to pay them back somehow. Not with money, her family barely made enough to support her family. By working for them, helping to do housework or something like that? How would she fit it in inbetween school, homework, track meets and practice whenever she could, family time, the part-time job she had taken on every Sunday she could come back to her time (doing old Mrs. Yamamoto's yard work, like picking weeds and, when in season, picking cherries from her sakura tree, sweeping her driveway, washing dishes, doing her laundry, and other household chores for the price of every time she went, and if cherries were plentiful, a small basket of cherries), which was not very often, cooking lessons (she really needed them, her cooking was terrible) from her mom whenever she got a chance to spend some mother-daughter time, baby-sitting when she wasn't studying for some big exam (she has a lot of them, ne?), and fighting demons and going after jewel shards with Inuyasha.
Inuyasha. It was funny to think about him and feel no tears come to her eyes.
'Have I finally gotten over him? Or is it just because there are people around?' She remembered the hours of time she had spent (I don't know how she found the time to do it, just like I don't know how I find the time write this story, but somehow I do. I have to stop now, to do homework, but I'm not gonna post this up until I get this thing longer.) trying to find a way to control her feelings. The furthest she got was being able to keep some feelings inside when strangers, or people she didn't know very well, were around. Most of the time it was useless, as Inuyasha, Shippo, Sota (when she tried to practice in her time), or someone else always came and interrupted her as she tried to practice. The only time when she actually gained some experience was when she couldn't sleep and decided to go practice in the middle of the night. She was surprised that Inuyasha didn't hear or smell her walking away from her sleeping bag, or wherever it was that she slept, but she soon found out why.
She could remember it exactly, the way she felt when she first saw it, and how she felt when she saw it repeatingly, over and over again, every single night until she couldn't bare it anymore and ran off into the forest.
One night as she was going out to do her meditating, she heard a soft moaning. She followed the noise until she reached some small trees where she could see everything around her and not be seen by many people. There, through the branches of one of those trees, she saw it. The thing that had broken her heart many times before. It was Kikyo that was moaning, moaning softly into Inuyasha's mouth as he gently picked her up wedding style while still continuously pressing his lips against...against...that devil's.
She started to sniffle a little. Both Kurama and Shiori noticed this. Kurama wanted to say something to comfort her, and his human mother could tell.
Shiori started walking away. "I'll just leave you two to talk while I go do the dishes."
"Oh no, please, let me do them, to repay you for all you've done for me. It's the least I could do." Kagome really did want to show them that she appreciated what they had done for her before she left.
"No, no, no. You're our guest. How could I let you do my responsibility?" Shiori said with a look of determination on her face.
"But..." Kagome started to protest, but was stopped by Kurama in mid-sentence.
"Kagome, there's no use in trying to get Mother to change her mind when she has that look on her face. It means she's made up her mind. Trust me, I've tried millions of times, it's never worked before." He smiled seeing Shiori with that look again. It had been a while since he'd seen that look. His human mother had been infected with pneumonia a mouth ago and had only healed a 1 ½ weeks ago. She was still a little weak.
oOoOoOo
Up in Kurama's room, Kagome and Kurama sat on the small bed. Neither knew how to begin the conversation. Instead they drifted off in their own thoughts.
Kagome was thinking of what to do.
'Should I go directly to the Feudal era? Or should I go to my house first? Should I tell Kurama/Shuichii and Shiori that I'm leaving? Or should I go in the middle of the night? Oh, I don't know what to do. If I don't go home soon, then what will my family think? If I don't go to the Feudal era, then I won't know if Inuyasha and the others are alright. Shiori and Kurama have been really good to me, I should go so they stop wasting money on me, but I owe it to them to at least tell them that I'm leaving in case they worry. If I do tell them, knowing Shiori from what I've seen, she's a very proud, strong women who can put up a fight and she'll probably try to convince me to stay. Ugh, Kami, please help me. I'm such a worrywart! (See, she even said it herself!)'She sighed silently. Then she thought of something. 'Youko Kurama, Youko Kurama. Where have I heard that name before? ...Maybe I should ask him...Oh, never mind, Kagome, it must be my imagination again.
Kurama was having a conversation with Youko.
'So...you never did get to finish you're sentence. What were you going to say?'
'...'
'Youko, answer me. I know you can hear me. You always can.'
'...She's a miko...a real one...like the ones when I lived in a world where humans and demons lived together.'
There was a pause.
' Seriously, Youko, she can't be. There are only about 10 left now-a-days who have real miko powers, and Koenma has them all recorded, 7 of them working for him, and knows them, or someone who knows them, all! You should know this, you tried to steal the file once, remember? And how do you know she's a miko?'
For a while, there was no answer, just complete silence. Kurama was almost to 'mind talk' to Youko when...
'I couldn't feel a normal human's aura around her. She had some human aura around her, but there was something protecting the rest of it, like a barrier. Most demons wouldn't even be able to sense her aura-wise. Only the most powerful ones, probably. Even me, I can barely sense her aura. I can only sense her human aura and the barrier around her. Even her human aura is different from most humans. It's different from any other human I've ever met.'
'But how do you know that she's a priestess, the real thing? How do you even know she's a pristess if you can't feel her aura?'
'The barrier around her is strong, real strong. Too strong.'
'You're avoiding my question, Youko. I know you pretty well.'
'But you don't know much about my past...'
'...You're right, Youko, I don't. I would like to know though.'
There was more silence.
'... I ... I don't know if I should tell you... Alright, I guess you deserve to know. I was born a long time ago, a little over 500 years from now, when humans and demons lived in the same world...'
oOoOoOo
Meanwhile, Kagome thought of a solution to her problem.
'I know! I'll leave the Minamo's a note telling them that I went home. Then I'll head over to the shrine and stick a note through Buyo's little cat door telling them that I was going to the feudal era and that I'd be back in a day or two, and for them not to call the police or anything like that. Then I'll sneak into the house and stock up on edible food and supplies, then go through the well to the feudal era. It's perfect! Oh, wait. How do I get into the house? And where do I get paper and a pen or a pencil to write with?'
She spied a pad of paper and a pen on Kurama/Shuichii's desk. Hmmm...maybe she could borrow some paper and a pen from Kurama, or Shuichii, or whoever he was. She would ask him that after she asked for the supplies, and some other questions as well. But that still left her with the problem of how to get into her house. Where did her mom hide that spare key? She sighed. Sometimes she regretted spacing out and not listening to people when they talked to her. She decided to get the paper first and think about how to get into her house without waking her parents and causing a commotion later.
oOoOoOo
'...So why don't we just ask her if she is a miko or not. She seems trustable.'
'Kurama! You know better than that... you know why we can't do that!'
Kurama chuckled lightly in is head.
'...You know, I think I'm a good influence on you. You're becoming more and more like me by the second! ...Come on, Youko, weren't you the one who taught me to take risks? I'm willing to take a risk right now, but you aren't. That's never happened before...is something wrong Youko, you're much quieter than usual.'
'...you...you wouldn't feel like that...you wouldn't be willing to take that risk, not now, if a miko had torn apart your body... your family... the soul things you lived for...and...'
'And?'
'...and...your soul...sh...she almost took away my soul... my SOUL!'
Kurama cried out in pain.
A/N:Sry about the delayed ch. I changed the plot a little from what I had in mind, so it tock a little bit longer to finish writing, andwhen I did finish it, the computer wouldn't let me upload the document until today, so...yeah...
Please, please, PLEASE review 4 pairings. The results I have so far are:
Yus/Kag: 1 votes
Inu/Kag: 2 votes
Kur/Kag: 2 votes
Hiei/Kag: 2 votes
I need a tie-breaker!
Remember that u can vote 4 pairings other than something/Kag, like, I donno, Hiei/Sango, or Miroku/Sango? Or Fluffly/Kagura, or Rin/Sesshy? Also remember that Botan, Koenma, Keiko, Kuwabara, Sesshomaru, Rin, Naraku, Kikyo, Miroku, Sango, Kanna, Kohaku, etc. are also in or are gonna be in the story (probably). I was rereading Ch. 2, and I realized that I had spelled Shuichii 'Suichii', and I apologize if this has offended anybody (though I don't it has). Thanx 2 all the people who reviewed: Filit tel' Yoru, AlchemistofDarkness, Satsuki9112, Suisen, MidnightKitsuneInuAshurii, korokochan18, animeangel, Sesshomaru.